M38A1 Wiring Harness

The more I look at my wiring harness, the more I'm thinking about needing to replace it. Many connectors are missing/damaged, the shield is showing on lots of wires, and the wires are very brittle.
Am I being too picky and these are normal issues on a 60 year old vehicle and I should just repair as needed and not succumb to more "mission creep"?

Thanks,
Keith

For sure you need to replace it. That harness is 65 years old and could result in a fire if there is a short circuit.

Hang on to your wallet when you see the price of a new one $$$$$

Looks like around $800????
Beanie weenies for a loooooong time...........

m38inmaine said:

Hang on to your wallet when you see the price of a new one $$$$$

Click to expand...

Very true. If you're not made of money you can make your own in a few evenings. Erik's Surplus has the wire, original style Douglas and newer rubber type if originality is not that important to you.

spillmk1 said:

The more I look at my wiring harness, the more I'm thinking about needing to replace it. Many connectors are missing/damaged, the shield is showing on lots of wires, and the wires are very brittle.
Am I being too picky and these are normal issues on a 60 year old vehicle and I should just repair as needed and not succumb to more "mission creep"?

Thanks,
Keith

Click to expand...

Keith, try Peter DeBella, Jeep Parts.

I bought a complete harness from DeBella about 2 months ago. I am very pleased with the product. The price was what was mentioned above ($800-ish) but it was well worth the money in my opinion. My original harness was like yours....sketchy...and I didn't want to do any impromptu welding between wires/metal/etc.

One, a 65+ year old harness is no good unless it's NOS

Two, consider what options you want before ordering a new harness: perhaps you want dual taillights, perhaps you want turn signals, etc. You can have harnesses made with all of these upgrades already in them

Three: This is just my opinion, but I loathe Douglas connectors. If originality isn't important, I'd have a harness made with packard connectors. This will create all sorts of things you'll have to deal with, so it's not an easy swap (consider all the things like the brake light switch, horn switch, etc that will have to be changed to more modern switches that aren't Douglas equipped).

I dislike them because: with time the rubber insulator will rot and collapse. And then, the hot (energized) bullet will contact the metal shell. And that shell will touch something else metal, like the choke cable under the dash and then bad things will happen. Likely one of the reasons the military moved to Packard connectors.

I have personal experience with the above scenario.

I had a customer who bought a harness from the above vendor for a M38A1, the rear lights would not work, the vendor admitted they made some with incorrect wiring. Unlike other harnesses the A1 is all one piece from instruments to the back, it would involve a lot of work to remove it and send it back. If you buy one from him ask if they have resolved the issues.